Agent 64 Hits 60 FPS on Steam Deck, EAC Online Works

There’s a special kind of relief when a game that looks like it escaped from a 1997 demo disc runs flawlessly on Steam Deck. Agent 64: Spies Never Die, out now for $19.25 until August 25, is exactly that. Steam Deck HQ’s testing shows the N64-inspired shooter easily hits 60 FPS in campaign at just 12W of battery drain, which works out to more than 3.5 hours on the OLED model. That’s not merely ‘good enough’ — that’s the kind of efficiency you’d expect from a 2D indie, not a 3D multiplayer FPS.

The real surprise, though, is the online. Agent 64 uses kernel-level Easy Anti-Cheat, the exact technology that normally turns Steam Deck multiplayer into a no-go zone — the same wall that locked the Deck out of Marvel Tōkon’s beta. Steam Deck HQ jumped into matches and took an absolute beating from random players, confirming that the full multiplayer experience works out of the box. For handheld owners, that’s the difference between a good single-player throwback and a game you’ll actually keep installed.

60 FPS at 12W: The Battery Math Steam Deck Owners Care About

Steam Deck HQ’s numbers deliver a verdict without ambiguity: campaign runs at 60 FPS with a 12W battery drain, which translates to more than 3.5 hours on the OLED model. Those figures place Agent 64 alongside the most efficient games in the Deck library — the same rock-solid 60 FPS that won Avatar Legends its Verified badge — lightweight fare you can play on a long flight without hunting for an outlet. The low draw also means the APU isn’t breaking a sweat, so the fan will stay quiet and frame pacing should stay consistent during extended sessions.

That’s the difference between a game that runs ‘fine’ and one that feels native to the hardware. The reviewer notes that similarly lightweight-looking games have burned them before; Agent 64 avoids that trap by being exactly as light as it looks. A solid 60 FPS with this kind of power draw is the performance profile that makes the whole Steam Deck fantasy work.

Kernel-Level Anti-Cheat That Actually Lets You Play Online

Easy Anti-Cheat is the number one reason a new multiplayer game earns an asterisk on Steam Deck. Because it hooks deep into the Windows kernel, it usually fails under Proton — leaving Linux and Deck players locked out of online modes even if the campaign runs perfectly. That makes Agent 64’s working multiplayer a bigger deal than its polygon count.

Steam Deck HQ confirmed that online matches are fully playable, which means the developer flipped on EAC’s Proton compatibility — a trivial effort that many studios simply skip. For $19.25 until August 25, you’re getting a complete package: a co-op-ready campaign, full online multiplayer, and a handheld experience that isn’t artificially gutted. That’s the kind of day-one respect Deck owners should expect from every game, and Agent 64 delivers it without caveats.